Get excited about cruciferous vegetables! Incorporating these plant foods into your diet may be more important than ever in the face of COVID-19. These nutritional powerhouses include cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, kale, and brussels sprouts and work magic to decrease inflammation and boost our immune systems. Let’s take a closer look at crowd favorite cruciferous vegetable: cauliflower. This veg is widely known in the health food world for being useful in displacing carbs and calories but we’re here for its surprisingly impressive nutrition profile, too!
Eating one cup of cauliflower delivers the benefits of almost an entire day’s worth of vitamin C (75% of the recommended daily intake). This nutrient is crucial for not only improving immunity but also for optimal DNA functioning. Your DNA is responsible for producing things like collagen and serotonin- so yes, it’s true that cauliflower might also make you a bit happier! Packed with antioxidants, 20% of daily vitamin K needs, and tons of B-vitamins, the phytonutrients in this plant are abundant.
Research shows an inverse relationship between the consumption of cruciferous vegetables and the risks of heart disease, cancer, and death from any cause, making cauliflower a key food for fighting and preventing disease. Cruciferous vegetables have a superpower to increase our levels of nitric oxide in the blood, helping to deliver more blood flow to the lungs. Incorporating more cruciferous veggies is a widely accepted strategy for keeping COVID at bay and having better outcomes when infected.
Cauliflower is a versatile vegetable that is easy to enjoy. It can be blended in smoothies, thrown into oatmeal, riced for a grain replacement, or roasted, sautéed, and seasoned to match flavor profiles of almost any dish. We use cruciferous veggies at Vito and Vera literally any time we can so get inspired by Chef Alicia’s cooking!
